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'SAMENA Daily' News

PTS wants changes to law to boost telecoms security

Category: Policy and Regulation

Publishing Date: February 13, 2018

Swedish postal and telecoms regulator PTS said it has suggested a number of changes to the law on electronic communications (LEK) in order to improve access to secure and well-function telephony and broadband services. Among other things, it is proposing changes to the way penalties are imposed when providers breach regulations, and more options for PTS to gather information from operators.

PTS said following regulations can be costly and time-consuming for operators, with the result they do not always fulfil them. Currently, the watchdog has the power to issue an injunction, which potentially can have a fine attached. Only after a protracted period of supervision does the operator risk a financial consequence. Now, to encourage providers to stick to the rules from the start, PTS proposes that it should have the right to impose charges. Such charges could depend on factors such as the duration of a breach.

Dan Sjoblom, director-general of PTS, said the watchdog also needs a stronger mandate to gather information from operators, to support its role as a supervisory agency that also has a responsibility for contingency preparations. For this reason, the regulator is recommending that the law should be complemented by an obligation for operators to submit data enabling PTS to judge their ability to withstand stresses, risks, vulnerabilities and security breaches. Providers must also have a greater obligation to supply details of events that could affect telecoms security, PTS said.

In addition, PTS recommends that operators leasing capacity on another provider's network should give notification of problems that could cause a shut-down if they do not make their lease payment in time. Such closures can affect operations necessary to operations necessary to society, it said.